Arjen Kramer

Name: Arjen Justus Kramer

Gender: Male

Age: 17

Grade: Senior

School: George Hunter High School

Hobbies and Interests: Watching television, ventriloquism, cosplay, soccer

Appearance: Arjen stands at 5’8” and weighs 118 pounds appearing gangly. As far as fashion goes, Arjen is distinctly gothic; very black. His natural hair color is blond though he dyed it black for aesthetic reasons. He styled his shoulder-long hair into an asymmetrical undercut. He has a lobe piercing on his left ear. Arjen has a fair skin complexion, a pointy chin, no facial hair, a tiny nose, brown eyes and thin eyebrows.

Arjen has a husky voice. On the day of the abduction he is wearing a black coat, a black choker and a white plain shirt paired with black denims and black sneakers, while wearing a black University of American Samoa shirt.

Biography: Arjen Justus Kramer was born to real estate agent Rebecca and gastroenterologist Harry Kramer, who met each other through the personal ad section of the local newspaper. After having dated each other for five years they married and brought life to three children. Luis Kramer in 1992, Christina Kramer in 1995 and Arjen Kramer in 2001. Arjen’s older siblings often took care of him when his parents worked and he has established a good relationship with them as the three of them have shared hobbies they all were interested in.

Harry Kramer was a big soccer fan, so not only did he and his family watch soccer together regularly, but he encouraged his kids to play it and join a soccer club as well. Harry taught his children the ball early on when playing soccer with them on their backyard with the fence playing the role of the goal. Arjen joined a local soccer club when he was seven and has been training gradually since then. He enjoys playing soccer as it keeps him active and gives him time to spend with people he likes.

Another activity all Kramers had in common was watching television. They watch the TV on a daily basis. As a kid he consumed television most of the time with his siblings, after school and after having done his homework he would watch it a lot. He became familiar with lots of different genres, varying from anime, cartoon, sitcom, drama and movies they showed on there, him particularly being interested in drama of all kinds. As he watched a lot of television he also stumbled upon a certain Jeff Dunham - a comedian and ventriloquist that amazed him with his humour and the art of ventriloquism, trying to watching all of his shows on the internet. Christina noticed his obsession with him and other ventriloquists as he loved to show some YouTube clips to her and Luis and tried some tricks himself, she bought him a monkey dummy for his twelfth birthday he later named “Toto”. With that he began to practise and attempt to master the art of ventriloquising by learning, watching tutorials and trying to show off to his family, who are supportive of his hobby and proud of him being passionate about it. With that encouragement, he began to occasionally show off his skills to other people, e.g. to his friends, at parties or during family events. At first he only adopted Jeff Dunham sketches, but he began to try out original ones as well.

In school he had no troubles academically; the Kramers were known to ensure their children to be good in school, supporting them in case they struggled with classes by financing tutoring. Some teachers would recognise Arjen to be the younger brother of Luis and Rebecca who also went to George Hunter Highschool due to looking similiar to them and having Kramer as a surname. Luis and Rebecca were both academically well-off and so Arjen would also quickly be recognised as a good student partially because of that.

However, Arjen would have some problems with some classmates of his due to them mocking his odd behaviour in class such as him sticking pencils in his nose when he’s concentrating, him smelling badly when puberty hit (which did not mix well with him practising soccer three days a week) and when they found out he was doing ventriloquism, they mocked him for that too. Even when changing his behaviour by wearing deodorant, that didn't stop them making fun of him. The last straw that broke Arjen’s back was reached when a boy during swimming class insulted Arjen’s family that were known to be upper-class. Arjen reacted angrily and impulsively and shoved the head of the boy into the water, leading to the teacher having to intervene. Arjen received a warning, and his parents were informed, shocked by the news they had an intensive talk with him about what had happened and that they were disappointed by how he acted. They knew Arjen was a bit on the rowdy side during soccer, pulling shirts, or shoving others to obtain the ball, when they spectated his matches, but they had no idea on how to change him to become a less rowdy kid.

Arjen would watch a lot of anime in his free time, a passion shared with his siblings. Arjen could identify himself with main characters like Luffy, Goku, Naruto and others, who got to keep on fighting for their goals. Luis, who was much more into anime than him and was more connected to the anime community, introduced him to cosplaying, an art that also began to fascinate Arjen. Whenever there were anime conventions, he and his brother would then go on and cosplay as their favourite characters, putting a lot of effort into their costumes, their new hairstyle and makeup, with success as they often came home with having heard a lot of compliments on their work. Arjen learned via tutorials on how to sew cosplay, a skill that would also be helpful for him when creating or modifying his ventriloquism dolls. Rebecca and him would also craft costumes together for the three of them; Luis was not interested in sewing at all and would have ordered the costumes if he hadn't had his siblings. Arjen was also particularly interested in seeing other people cosplay and their art and way to do it.

In his free time he likes taking a walk to clear his mind. As he lives near a graveyard, he often takes a walk on it, another reason why people think of him to be creepy, but he enjoys it nonetheless. Another free time activity of his is listening to metal music. Furthermore, he shares a netflix account with his siblings and would casually talk about soccer and television. He is still close with his siblings, even though only Luis is still living at home while Christina moved in with her boyfriend, who also lived in Chattanooga. Luis is currently attending university studying medicine while Christina is already working as a bank employee. Arjen plans on studying medicine as well.

In school he would have friends and acquaintances he would talk to on lunch break or during class when teachers aren't around. He likes to avoid people he does not get along with, which is not hard since the student body is quite large so he would always find someone to hang out with. He especially likes to hang out with people from the soccer club he's part of. Some people still find his behaviours to be weird, as he would still unconsciously stick the pen into his nose. He also is not the most popular, because he would often narc or snitch things to the teachers to get a good grade, in addition to coming from a well-off family, a so-called "weeb" and a hobby ventriloquist. He is not very approachable, unless you talk with him about television, soccer or anime, which makes him tolerable to fellow anime fans and television junkies, but not to anyone else.

Advantages: Arjen is fit due to his soccer practice. He has a good stamina in running long-distance and sprinting. Him also being a ruthless player in soccer could translate to the death game.

Disadvantages: He can be aggressive and impulsive. He also has the reputation of being creepy which makes it harder for him to ally up with other contestants as he is rather unapproachable. He also could be a target for being viewed as being odd and not likeable.

Designated Number: Male student No. 075

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Designated Weapon: Flammenschwert

Conclusion: That is a very nice sword. If you spin it around and scream loud enough, people might think you're scary and not stick around long enough to realize you've got no way of using it properly. - Matt Richards

'The above biography is as written by Sh4de. No edits or alterations to the author's original work have been made.'

Evaluations
Handled by: Sh4de

Kills: None

Killed By: Marco Volker

Collected Weapons: Flammenschwert (assigned weapon)

Allies: Marco Volker

Enemies: Marco Volker

Mid-game Evaluation: Arjen woke below deck of the capsized yacht, he grabbed his sword and tried to make it above deck, though the tilt of the ship had him disoriented and he tripped, breaking his nose when he got out. Marco Volker found him, helped him out a bit. Marco's more blase demeanor, along with the general good spirits of other new arrivals Kelly Nguyen and Juliette Sargent, caused the thoughts of terror Arjen had been keeping boiling under, he started to clutch hysterically at Marco, earning a rifle butt for his trouble. Juliette took control, assigned Kelly to calming down Arjen, and the two hugged it out a bit while Arjen continued to stew in his newfound terror. He was humiliated, and when Kelly and Juliette took to themselves to discuss in private Marco's continued demeanor began to get on Arjen's nerves. Arjen accepted that he was a coward, but didn't want Marco to essentially rub it in with his misguided attempts at motivation. The brief interruption that was Kelly apparently falling overboard only allowed Arjen's nerves to stew exposed, he blamed Marco for what he believed was Kelly trying to commit suicide and lunged at the boy. Marco effortlessly wrestled him off and opened fire with the gun, forcing Arjen to heel. They were alone now- Juliette had left and Kelly was confirmed alive, Marco having seen her swim away. Marco laid into Arjen for his uselessness, and forced the boy to pick up Kelly's stuff, leading them to chase after her. Arjen stuck around out of fear, and the hopes that he'd eventually be able to leave when Marco was satisfied with their goose chase.

Arjen was driven to exhaustion by Marco's forced march- they reached the temple cliffs by the time Marco decided they could rest- Kelly was still not found by then. Marco ate, offering Arjen some, a weary Arjen politely refused. Arjen was comfortable with an awkward silence but Marco insisted on conversation of some sort- once more Arjen was infuriated with Marco's irreverence, and the brief attempt at small talk became another bout of fatalism and Marco's aggressively insensitive pep talks. The conversation ended on a certain note- that of Marco screaming, as he was hit by the taser of Sierra Cook. They were under attack, Sierra and her compatriot Willow O'Neal, and Marco was already down for the count, struggling in Sierra's grip while more taser shots struck him. Willow gave Arjen an ultimatum- his stuff for his life. With little hesitation he took it and ran, abandoning Marco in the process.

Post-Game Evaluation: 

Memorable Quotes: "We should all cry and sob in the corner, we should all do that." - As Kelly tries to comfort him.

Threads
Below is a list of threads containing Arjen, in chronological order.

The Past: V7:
 * We Who Are About To Die
 * Als op een winternacht een reiziger
 * Holiday in Cambodia.
 * See You On The Road, Skag!
 * Undulation Nation
 * Watch Your Step
 * The Definition of Insanity
 * Binary Suns

Your Thoughts
''Whether you were a fellow handler in SOTF or just an avid reader of the site, we'd like to know what you thought about Arjen Kramer. What did you like, or dislike, about the character? Let us know here!''
 * So, as I insinuated in my discussion of Layla, Arjen is one of my V7 highlights. From an opening that's a homage to a book I love to his wild moments of unanticipated realism to the death so unexpected I didn't realize it had happened for almost a week, Arjen is just bursting with creativity and innovation. At the same time, he's a character with an incredible human core, one who is in many ways the only sane person in a world gone mad.

To springboard off of that a little: many SOTF characters are cool, collected, precocious, or otherwise a bit more than average. Arjen is none of that stuff. He's scared almost to the point of helplessness. His two most common moods are "pathetic" and "petulant," and he swings between them erratically. This works especially well because the character he's paired with most consistently, Marco Volker, absolutely becomes one of those wild, force-of-nature characters, and a lot of that can be traced to his interactions with Arjen and his mounting outrage at the boy's unwillingness to take any initiative or responsibility for himself whatsoever. Arjen does nothing to help Marco when he's being robbed, instead throwing their gear to the assailants and running away. He does nothing to help Marco in the aftermath, coming back to explain just why he isn't going to be useful. And, finally, when Marco has him tied up, moments from execution, he does nothing to help himself, even as the boy practically begs him to come up with a reason not to push him off the cliff.

If I had to pick a single moment to encapsulate Arjen, to sum up his unique charm, I think the two front-runners are pretty clear, and neither is in any way important to the plot. The first is when Arjen asks Marco if he's excited to see an upcoming movie, only to, when the question is returned, launch into yet another rant about how it doesn't matter because they're all going to die. He perfectly baits Marco into setting him up to yet again drag the reality of their situation out in front of everyone, killing all positive vibes. The second is when, asked why he came back to a place he knew Marco might be waiting for revenge, Arjen explains that he was hoping to find a lost bag of Cheetos. This is of course not at all what Marco wants to hear, and leads into one of the all-time best single-sentence posts in SOTF, as Arjen woefully, fatally misreads the situation.

This all really only touches on what makes Arjen so great. He's painfully, brutally realistic, not in some graphic grim violent way, but in the way where he's the only one who understands just how messed up everything is, the only one truly behaving logically given that, and this manages to make him absolutely hilarious. It also makes him completely unpredictable; nobody saw his death coming and in fact the actual death post was added after the fact, clarifying that, yep, he was really dead (unrolled of course) after his body washed into another thread entirely. It was beautiful and crushing and I could've read a hundred more threads of Arjen doing his thing but at the same time it was an absolutely perfect beat to go on, one that fit everything he was and that ensures he'll be remembered well. Check him out. If you're on the right wavelength, he's so much fun. - MurderWeasel